Building and sustaining a fire will determine whether or not you survive in the wild. Besides providing just heat and the ability to cook, a raging fire will bolster your spirits in the wild and boost morale of yourselves and others around you. These psychological benefits are probably as important as the physical benefits.

Moreover, fire will help keep predators at bay (animals as well as insects) and dry your clothes. Every fire requires: constant fuel, oxygen, and the proper construction. The following will provide you with a basic knowledge of fires and how to properly build one.

Tinder:

Depending on your geographical area, there are generally some great types of tinder out in the wild, if you know what to look for:

Moss: Looking towards the bottom of rocks and tree roots, search for extremely dry moss if you can. Damp moss will not light and please DO NOT waste valuable time and resources trying to dry anything wet (unless there are no other options!).

Inner Bark: What makes bark such an amazing form of tinder is that even if it has just been raining, you can most likely strip away outer layers of bark and find something dry inside. Be diligent and you will most likely find something dry. If wood ever looks rotten, please use it, as it will likely be excessively dry.

Dry Grass: Depending on your climate, thin grass may be the best source of tinder around. Rule of thumb- the lighter the color of grass the more useful it is for tinder, generally speaking.

Leaves: Make sure to seek out dry, cracked leaves which have already fallen off the tree, thus indicating dead leaves. Rubbing slightly damp leaves together can often dry them out for easier lighting.

Improving Tinder:

Keep in mind a very simple concept: If material is cut up into smaller sizes and pieces it can dry quicker. Cut your tinder material up and it will light up quickly.

Tip: The best way to build a solid raging fire is to start it off extremely slowly and gradually increase to larger pieces of wood as you progress. The biggest mistake people make is lack of fire preparation. The key to a great fire is to have ample materials and fuel around you, as building a fire can take time and you should not be running around looking for tinder or fuel while acting trying to build the fire. This is waste of your precious energy and worse, extremely dangerous! Construct your fireplace with care and always remember your surroundings. A fire can potentially burn everything around it. Moreover, remember that fire eats oxygen. Therefore never build a fire in an enclosed area without proper ventilation, you will quickly find yourself without breathable oxygen.

Types of Fire Constructions:

Teepee Shapes:  The simplest and probably most instinctual form of a fire starts by building a teepee shape by balancing a few sticks upright against each other, the top points meeting at a point. Continue surrounding your teepee with more and more sticks until the structure is extremely strong. Once the outside frame is complete, take your dry tinder and stuff it inside the teepee itself. Light the tinder and slowly add fuel as the fire progresses.

Trench Fire: If facing a strong wind, a trench fire structure is a useful way to shelter your fire and allow for a strong fire to thrive. First, dig a hole in the ground about 1 foot deep and next build your standard teepee sticks up on top of this. Now, simply place your tinder in the 1 foot trench and it should be fairly protected from the wind at this point. Again, build the fire up slowly and steadily.

Rock Wall Fire: Similarly sheltering your fire from the wind, build a wall of rocks around your teepee sticks in order to prevent your fire from being blown out. The problem and difficulty with this is the time it takes as well as a large quantity of rocks to accomplish this. A better idea would most likely be to build your fire near a natural wall or barrier.

Fire Lighting Methods:

Now that you understand the basic construction methods to building a survival fire, you must now learn how exactly to go about starting fires using different methods. Each takes practice and most of all patience.

The biggest shortcuts to starting a fire again have everything to do with being prepared. As described in the article Survival Kits waterproof matches, cotton, fire sticks, flint, and magnifying glasses, or lighters will make the task of starting a fire incredibly easy. The challenge then is in keeping the fire going!!

Bow Drill:

Using the principal of friction, there are various ways to start a fire from vigorously rubbing two pieces of carefully placed woods together. This is quite a challenging process and does require some practice to accomplish. First find a strong yet thin piece of wood branch about two feet long to create your bow. Cut grooves in each end and place a length of rope at each groove.

Make sure the rope has slack because you will need to make one loop around your drill in order for this process to work. After building a good bow you will need a build a bearing block of wood which the top of the bow will fit into. Carve a shallow hole into the bearing block and with your hand place a good amount of downward pressure on the bow. The more pressure you place, the more friction you will create. In a larger base of wood place the bottom of your bow and place tinder in there.

The rest is self explanatory. Use the bow to quickly turn the drill while applying great downward force from your top bearing block. With enough diligence the friction will cause the dry tinder to ignite. When this happens quickly blow on the tinder and your fire will soon begin.